Daily Wrap-up: Wells Fargo, Round 1

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For all the talk about the greens, Rory McIlroy's most important club was his driver Thursday in the Wells Fargo Championship.

McIlroy kept the ball in play at Quail Hollow and gave himself plenty of birdie chances on a cloudy, soft afternoon. He ran off six birdies in a seven-hole stretch around the turn and finished with an 8-foot birdie putt for a 5-under 67 to share the lead with six other players.

It was the first time this year McIlroy has been atop the leaderboard after any round, and the first time he broke par in the opening round.

"Now that I feel like I'm swinging it well, this is the sort of golf I expect to play," McIlroy said.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Derek Ernst expected to be playing in the Stadion Classic on the Web.com Tour this week. So the PGA TOUR rookie rented a car in New Orleans and headed east.

Before he made it to Georgia, though, the Californian got a call from TOUR headquarters telling the fourth alternate he got in the field for the Wells Fargo Championship when Freddie Jacobson withdrew. So Ernst returned the car in Athens and rented another -- he was told the drop-off fee was another thousand dollars and "we were like, okay, no way" -- for the trip to Charlotte, N.C.

"I've seen my game progress week by week, which is a
good thing. There are still 54 holes to play, but it's a
nice start here this week."-- Rory McIlroy after opening with a 5-under 67.

"A little embarrassing when you're playing as a Monday
qualifier. You don't want people to be making fun of
you. But I kind of had it coming from James, so it's all
in good fun. I'll be getting him back. So don't you worry
about that."
-- Monday qualifier Nate Smith, who had a prank played
on him by James Hahn, who put a sign on his bag saying, 'Please sign for charity.'

5 -- Number of rounds in 19 attempts that Ryan Moore has shot in the 60s at the Wells Fargo Championship, including his first-round 67.

9 -- Number of times in 11 attempts that Rory McIlroy has shot par or better at the Wells Fargo Championship.
18 -- Greens in regulation for first-round co-leader Ryan Moore.
72.731 -- Thursday's scoring average at Quail Hollow Club.

363 -- Longest drive of the day by Shawn Stefani, who hit the drive on the 487-yard, par-4 16th hole.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- All Rory McIlroy wanted to do was to keep making birdies.

Starting at the fifth hole on Thursday, he reeled off four in a row, then followed a bogey at No. 9 with two more. And wen he added everything up and put pencil to his scorecard, McIlroy had a 67 that left him tied for the lead -- again -- at the Wells Fargo Championship.

McIlroy was tied atop the leaderboard at the end of 72 holes at Quail Hollow last year but missed out on a second Wells Fargo Championship in three years when Rickie Fowler birdied the first playoff hole. Obviously, there's still plenty of golf to be played this week but McIlroy likes the way he's hitting the ball and the position he's in. More